It was officially, I had coeliac disease and most importantly an answer to my problems! (well some anyway). See apart from the puffer fish syndrome (previous post refers to massively swollen stomach as puffer fish), a side affect of being a coeliac is being anemic. And that I certainly was, there were times at work were I would be laying down in storerooms after sculling a power aide to get some energy and knowing that I was too tired to even get in the car and drive home. I remember visiting my god daughter in the hospital and the pictures of me holding her look like I was the one that gave birth a few hours before, pale faced, massive bags and then I nearly passed out at the front of the hospital.
So I guess you might understand when I say that I was kind of excited to know that there was a reason why my body was behaving how it was, and that I finally had a solution!
Most people will say that when they find out they are a coeliac or gluten intolerant that they are completely overwhelmed by the amount of food that gluten is in! I thought okay, bread, pasta, pizza and flour was definitely out and that was about it. But boy was I wrong! I remember thinking that I was sorted for breakfast as I had already converted to rice bubbles after I had the wonderful experience of the visit from channel 9 and 7 camera crews! After coming home from the specialist I thought I better check the ingredients of the beloved rice bubbles just in case, and I was shocked to read 'gluten containing cereals' (barley)! WTF!!!!!! Once I got over the shock of that I realised I could eat porridge, nice and healthy, right! Ba Bomb! wrong again Although this one I didn't discover until an appointment with the dietitian 4 weeks later!
And then there's the bread!!!!!!!! Words can't really do gluten free bread justice! Aside the fact that it will send you broke (the itty bitty small loaves from the supermarkets will set you back about $5.50!!!), it's holy (not in the religious sense), small and goey like in texture! The most tolerable way to eat gluten free bread is toasted, but be advised that the dial on the toaster needs to up fairly high, then the crust burn (I've frequently set the smoke detector off) but the bread often isn't cooked properly! I think cooked gluten free toast tastes a bit like a crumpet (ahh crumpets remember those!!!), but I'm sure that if they came up with a vaccine (it is something scientist are trialing) and I could eat a crumpet again I would think that I was nuts by making this comparison.
This talk of bread reminds me of the motivation I had to start this blog, to share not only my experiences but places where you can get gluten free food. I have yet to find a bakery in the Camden/Narellan area that make gluten free bread. However my parents have found some great places in Wollondilly that sell some great gf bread. I can't find the exact name of the bakery, but the bakery at Tahmoor in the Woolworths Shopping Complex, sells gf bread, it's made to order though, so place your orders in and the bread is baked on Wednesday's. The other place is the Common Ground Bakery at Razorback (the former Wool Away Wool Shed), this is seriously the best gf bread I have tasted! Mum picked me up 2 loaves of apple, rum and raisin on Sunday and I only have 2 slices left!!!! (small loaves remember, so not that much of a pig).
I hope that this helps some people and I promise next post I will start to share some recipes.
